THE ROLE OF THE PRESS IN NIGERIAS INDEPENDENCE.

The Nigerian press as an institution has been abused especially in recent times. While it has been commended by some, others have seriously condemned it for irr esponsible, reckless, and sensational journalism (Akinfeleye 2003-Prof. Ralph Ak infeleye is a foremost professor of journalism, at Nigerias leading journalism sc hool, University of Lagos, Department of Mass Communication). The press, it has been argued, was in the forefront of the struggle for enthron ement of democracy or better still, the return to civil rule (because not a few Nigerians believe that we do have democracy yet). Many in this group will point out that the press was also in the vanguard of the independence struggle. To the m while other countries in Africa fought for their independence on the battlefie ld, that of Nigeria was fought for, and won on the pages of news paper expending millions of words, instead of ammunitions, in the process. The press in Nigeria has remained one of the most vilified, debated and acclaime d institutions in recent time. Some have commended for its tenacity and doggedne ss especially in the struggle against colonialism and military misrule. Others h ave condemned it for its irresponsible, reckless, and sensational journalism. Th is paper examined the role of the press in military coups in Nigeria. It found t hat the press played a strategic and significant role, during, and after militar y coups. Before the coup, the press serves a barometer by which the performance of the government of the day is measured. Whenever an incumbent government is rece iving negative press coverage or bashing, the press is inadvertently preparing the ground for coup plotters to strike. It was discovered that the coup plotters us ed the negative press coverage as an excuse to take over the government. During the execution of military coup, plotters always seize available broadcast stati ons to announce the change of government and the policy thrust if the new govern ment. After the coup, the plotters need the press to win legitimacy. The paper a lso discovered that the press has a significant role to play in the entrenchment of democracy in Nigeria. On the other hand, many have accused the press of being responsible for everythi ng bad in the Nigerian policy. To this group, the press was behind or responsibl e for the major national crises the country has witnessed. Still on the same era, Unah (1995) stated that the press activities during this p eriod were characterized by cultural stereotypes and primordialism. In essence, t he media can be said to have fuelled the crises 1960. If the press is guilty as charged above (that is, fueling the crises), then, it stands to reason that the press had a hand in crises of the 1960s and subsequent crises in Nigeria, especially , the coup of January 15 1996, and subsequent cou ps in the country. This paper focuses specifically on the role of the press in t he military coups. So, the objective of the paper is to find out the role of the press in military coups. In the words of Obi (1999), A coup detat is a political act directed at the unauth orized seizure of power through the direct use of treat or violence force. It is often clandestine, involving a small band of conspirators plotting in secret an d often taking advantage of existing social grievances or a political power. Coup detat often targets existing office holders either for elimination (assassinatio n) or forceful removal from office. In the words of Baran and Davis (2000), social responsibility theory challenged m edia professionals ingenuity to develop new ways of serving communities. They argu e further that the theory encouraged them (media operators) to see themselves as front-line participants in the battle to preserve democracy in a world drifting inexorable towards totalitarianism. To them, by helping pluralistic groups, media were building a wall to protect democracy from external and internal foes. This s hows that the Nigerian media have always been in the forefront of the struggle f or enthronement, entrenchment, and survival of democracy in Nigeria. In doing th is, media owners/operators have suffered untold hardship while some lost their l ives, others were maimed. The mass media is seen as essential to the society for integration and co-operat ion, order, control and stability; and continuity of cultures and values. The Ni

gerian media is discovered to have done well in this regard as the media are exp ected to monitor happenings, especially activities of the government , and report to the entire society, which they have been doing. In addition, they are expecte d to uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the socie ty. (section 22 of the 1999 constitution). As noted, the press in Nigeria has actively been performing the surveillance and correlation functions. However, in the process it usually exposes the inadequac ies of the government in power. This expose, most times are damning and were use d by coup plotters as excuse to overthrow the government in power. The sailing ship of Nigeria ship in politics from colonial era have been in conj unction with some people who can be described as the Nation builder because of t he role they have played in Nigeria political development among whom is the pres s; who make good use of their institution contribute immensely to development of Nigeria despite the fact that the political arena is unfriendly to them. The pr ess which is the bone of contention here makes judicious use of the institution to enhance nationalists struggle which later extend to different dispensation th at we have been as well different military era and currently democratic dispensa tion of ours which as a matter of fact; not a child play. Men of the press were humiliated and victimized which even worst during military era slighted differen tiation during Civilian era. Despite the above, the institution and its men were determined, as a result of which they faced the different challenges created by the political arena which make them to deserve our kudos. It is undisputable fa ct that given kudos to men of the press and the institution at large does not me an that 100% success were recorded by them because of the imperfect nature that is peculiar to human being coupled with the presence of some Shaft among them bu t determined members among them make it necessary. Traditionally, the role of the mass media is to inform, educate, and entertain m embers of the society. It is also expected to propagate the cultural heritage of the people. The role of the mass media in creating political awareness, endange ring empathy and mobilizing people for socialization has also been noted. The pre ss according to Akinfeleye (2003) is to watch-dog, check-on-to uncover and never t o cover up corruption and/or wrong doings. They are also to monitor governance a nd make them accountable to the people at all times. These functions, the Nigerian press has been performing since 1859 when the firs t newspaper (mass medium), Iwe Irohin, was published. The press has done credita bly well especially in the area of surveillance and correlation. In the words of Akinfeleye (2003), as a journalist and media educator , I wish to commend the Ni gerian Press for a good job well done in its constitutional role of monitoring g overnance and making public officers accountable to the people. However, it should be noted that the press have their shortcomings too. It has b een accused of fueling the 1960s crisis. The press that was nationalistic during t he independence struggle, that provided nationalists arsenal from which they dre w literal arms and ammunitions, and served as launch pad from which they launche d vitriolic attacks on colonialists, suddenly became a parochial, and tribalisti c press at independence. The firebrand press suddenly became tribal-brand press. T he press of the first Republic aligned with the three major political parties wh ich themselves are ethnic based. Consequently, the press could not perceive issu es beyond the confines ideologies or ethnic boundaries, because none of three ma jor political parties had a firm footing in any region other than where it was b ased, even though each had considerable following in the other regions, the medi a could not promote national goals. During the Second Military interregnum (1983-1999) and the run off to the fourth republic, the Nigerian press had a running battle with various Military juntas. The regime of General Muhammadu Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon (December 31,1983-Aug ust 27, 1993) set the tone for subsequent regimes on how to relate with the pres s. The regime remained one of the harshest military regimes in the country, for it had no respect for human rights including that of the press. Other military regimes followed the footsteps of Buhari/Idiagbon and even surpas sed them, in their maltreatment of the press. Under the Babangida and Abacha reg imes newspapers/magazines were proscribed and media houses were shut at will for

daring to inform the public of their dubious activities. As if closing down will not do, arsonists, hired killers and hit squad, were let loose on the press to b urn media houses (arsonists were caught setting Guardian Newspapers office on fi re in 1996 or thereabout), kill journalists (Dele Giwa got parcel bombed in 1986 w hile Baguada Kaltho of the News magazine is still missing till today, about twel ve years after he was declared wanted by the police) and to maim (Alex Ibru, the publisher of Guardian Newspaper may not have fully recovered from the bullets he received from the agents General Abacha sent). To crown it all journalists, b oth males and females, were arraigned before Military tribunals on trump up charg es and many of them were jailed. At this juncture it is important to note that the war of attrition against the pre ss was not limited to the pressmen but to their families and relations. Many at times, families of newsmen were held hostage in their stead. Guns were pointed a t their little kids, their offence, being related to journalists. In all these, though the press being harassed, pursued and, bombarded, yet remai ned undaunted in the pursuit of its watch-dog role. The press was beaten but not intimidated, was humiliated but not cowed. It was this same press that led the struggle for the enthronement of democracy, after their hard work for the pursui t of our independence.No wonder Reuben Abati stated that; Nigerian press has face d several challenges has been more of a problem than the menance of military ru le and threats to the freedom of the press and the capacity of the press to fulf ill its mission as the voice of the voiceless and defender of the oppressedSo ser ious is Press censorship in Nigeria that between 1903 and 1998, there have been 29 anti- press legislation in the books. No other industry has been confronted w ith such a degree of official antagonism. Their struggle for Nigerias independence has placed them in front role in Nigeria political arena since then. Corrobating this, M. H. Kukah (1999) stated that jou rnalism was the major vehicle through which the anti-colonial struggle in Nigeri a was carried out. Many of the major figures in this struggle are Herbert Macaul ay, Nnamdi Azikwe, Enest Ikoli, Obafemi Awolowo, Anthony Enahoro, Dutse Mohammed Ali, Mokwugo Okoye, to name but a few who were newspaper publishers, journalist s, commentators or editors. The attainment of Independence status in 1960 coincident with the reshaping of the Nigerian press in the sense that most of the proprietors of the then availab le Newspapers were Politicians during colonial era and as well saw the presence of the press as an instrument of acquiring their different aspired office to the extent that those who did not have any print media were motivated to establish their own and as a matter of fact those papers were serving their proprietors int erest based on an adage that says; the piper dictates the tune. The good news now is that since the return of civil rule on May 29, 1999, the Ni gerian press has not witnessed too much official harassment. The handing over of power to an elected civilian government of Chief Olusegun Okikiolu Aremu Obasan jo on 29th May 1999 by General Abdusallam Abubakar marked a return to democratic governance, even if in theory. The common enemy of the media, the military, is gone. This calls for a new orientation for the media so as to avoid the mistakes of the First Republic Press. The press that was used to bashing the colonial ad minstrators, suddenly woke up at independence to discover that there was neither colonial government nor administrators to bash. Left with no one to bash, the p ress decided to bare its fangs on the polity taking sides with the then regional based political parties to tear the country apart, the result was military inte rvention. Therefore, the purpose of this paper would not be complete if the issue of demil itarization and the entrenchment of democracy in Nigeria and the role of the med ia is not treated or discussed no matter how brief. This is because, in the fina l analysis, the success or otherwise, of the current democratic experience will to a large extent be determined by how well and how far we are able to demilitar ize the Nigerian polity. The mass media has an indispensable role to play here. The mass media has a vital role to play here. More than ever before, the press m ust diligently watch over the country hard-earned democracy. The press must neve r forget how she fought, suffered and eventually triumphed in the battle for ind

ependence and democracy. It is not uhuru yet. The country, the press inclusive , has not gotten to the promised land of democracy, where human rights are not only respected but also held sacrosanct, safeguarded through constitutional provisio ns. The Nigerian press has a long history of struggle behind it. Its forefather, Iwe Irohin was reputed to have spearheaded the attack on slavery, which thrived cla ndestinely Is what is now known as NIGERIA. So, it is the case of where the batt le is, the Nigerian press is there, ever ready to wage war against the forces of oppression. Whether the battle was against colonial oppression, colonialism gen erally, poverty, or against military rule, the press has always been in the vang uard and had performed creditably well and will continue to.